PHILADELPHIA - With just more than eight minutes remaining in No. 9 Duke's contest against Temple, the Blue Devils appeared to be in serious trouble. Their 19-point advantage had been whittled to just eight, and the cherry-and-white supporters in the crowd at the Wachovia Center were as loud as they were all night. The situation was especially troubling considering the numerous times last season when Duke stormed out to a huge lead, only to lose in the final moments.
But this time, the Blue Devils showed poise and maturity, going on an 8-0 run of their own over the next two-and-a-half minutes to put the Owls away for good.
"As a team, we've been talking about being tough, mentally and physically," freshman guard Nolan Smith said. "They were pounding us, the refs were letting a lot of things go and as a team we really responded. On defense, we tightened up and got the stops we needed to."
For a while, though, it looked as if Temple would push Duke until the final buzzer.
Owl junior Dionte Christmas, who averaged 20.9 points per game entering the contest, struggled in the first half, in part due to the lockdown defense from senior DeMarcus Nelson. In the second half, however, Christmas exploded. The guard scored 12 straight points for Temple, including two makes from beyond the arc and seven from the free-throw line to pull the Owls within 10 at 53-43. At the same time, Duke's offense sputtered, going nearly eight minutes without scoring.
Despite their drought, the Blue Devils remained calm. After Owl guard Semaj Inge drained two free throws to cut Duke's lead to eight, Duke sophomore Jon Scheyer drained two foul shots of his own to push the lead to back to 10. On the Blue Devils' next offensive possession, sophomore Gerald Henderson wrestled the ball away from two defenders in the paint and threw down a thunderous dunk. Then, with 3:22 remaining in the game, Scheyer drilled a three-pointer, giving Duke a 64-49 lead and icing the victory.
"Our defense was constant tonight," Nelson said. "We played great team defense throughout the ball game. They made a run, [and] they hit some shots. The one thing we didn't do, as a team, we didn't let up defensively. Offensively, we still got great things, our execution was good, and down the stretch we were able to knock down free throws."
In the contest, the Blue Devils hit 24 of their 29 free throws. Duke also harassed Temple into 20 turnovers and held the Owls to 34.5 percent from the field.
Both factors were important down the stretch for the Blue Devils to preserve the win.
"I'm glad we won the game," sophomore Gerald Henderson said. "We thought that at a point, we could have busted the game open. We really stopped hitting shots at a point in the second half and couldn't expand our lead much. The important thing was that we played good defense throughout the game."
Still, Duke has several concerns heading into ACC play. The offense needs to work on maintaining consistency throughout a game. And the defense, though solid for the most part, cannot give up huge scoring spurts like it did to Christmas.
The win is more impressive for the Blue Devils, considering the circumstances. Although the game was officially played in a neutral arena, there were far more Owl supporters in the crowd, screaming raucously when Temple closed the gap. But Duke prevailed, showing yet again that this year's Blue Devils are substantially different than last year's squad, which struggled in hostile environments.
"We wanted that test," Smith said. "We knew the crowd wasn't going to quit and the refs are always tougher on the road team. I'm glad we came out strong."
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